Cub Scout Parent Orientation Guide now available!

You have the Scouts – so what do you do with the parents?

The parent orientation is a vital step in the recruiting process and should take place after your back-to-school night, your unit’s recruitment event, and School Night for Scouting.  Parent orientations serve as the opportunity to provide an introduction into Scouting and your unit’s program to new families.  Critically, this is your chance to recruit your pack’s future leaders – invest in the opportunity!

To Aid Pack’s in their Parent Orientation, the Lake Minnetonka District Team has created a Sample Cub Parent Introduction that you can customize with your Pack’s information.

Parent Orientation should:

• Provide a background to Scouting, including the aims and methods, pack meetings vs. den meetings, and the structure of a Cub Scout Pack.
• Create position descriptions and distribute copies to new families. Some unit leaders build ‘new parent packets’ that also include event fliers and the unit’s annual calendar.
• Try to register at least one adult in every family as a member of your unit committee, or as a unit volunteer. This will encourage parents to become involved in your pack – you can never have too much help! Remember, not all parents will be Cubmasters, Committee Chairs or Den leaders…  despite this, these parents can significantly impact your unit by helping to coordinate events, by serving as a resource to the unit committee, and by helping to chaperon den and pack events.

Remember to make sure that every volunteer complete Youth Protection Training and completes an Adult Application!